Two men from Coventry who snatched a young mum's handbag from her baby’s pram after watching her withdraw cash have been jailed.

Martin Baker and Warren Beswick pleaded guilty to robbing the woman, and a judge at Warwick Crown Court in Leamington said it was "more than a bag snatch" because of the vulnerability of their victim.

Baker, aged 26, of Euston Crescent, Willenhall, and Beswick, also 26, of Abbey Cottages, Willenhall, were both jailed for two years.

Prosecutor Andrew Keogh said the pair saw the woman, who had her two-year-old son in a pram, withdraw £100 from a cash machine in Remembrance Road, Willenhall, on October 13.

They then watched as she withdrew a further £100 from another machine, and began to follow her home.

The two men hung around as she went inside to get an umbrella, and when she came out they continued to follow her along Tarquin Close.

They then approached her, and Baker demanded: “Give us the money – we saw you withdrawing it.”

He grabbed her handbag which was hanging on the handle of the pram, almost pulling it over, and the pair made off with the bag, which contained the cash and bank cards.

Mr Keogh said Baker and Beswick were arrested just two hours later, but the cash and bank cards were not recovered.

He added that Baker had ten previous court appearances for 13 offences including burglary and theft, and was subject to a suspended sentence at the time, while Beswick had convictions going back to 2005 for offences which included common assault, harassment and attempted burglary.

David Rees, for Baker, said: “He has had for a substantial period of time an on-off hard drug habit, and he was reliant on both heroin and crack cocaine.”

Mr Rees said that because of the drugs he had taken, Baker had no recollection of the incident, but had written a note to their victim apologising for what he did and promising to repay the money.

He added: “This is the first time he has been before the court for a matter as serious as this. She was vulnerable because the baby was in the pram, and she feared the baby would tip out. It was effectively a bag-snatch.”

But Recorder Adrian Redgrave QC responded: “This was more than a bag-snatch. They followed this woman, watching her going to two cashpoints, and then robbed her.”

Amy Jackson, for Beswick, said he had entered an early guilty plea, and “wants to put offending behind him” after coming off drugs.

Jailing the two men, Recorder Redgrave told them: “You only have to put yourselves in the position of that lady for a short time to realise it must have been frightening for her to be followed by two men and then to be confronted and, admittedly without any significant violence, attacked.